Clients coming for Couples Therapy have often been impacted by early developmental trauma, systemic or intergenerational trauma, or acute interpersonal trauma. Partners with early developmental trauma or acute trauma at young ages are complex to work with and take patience, and persistence from the therapist to recognize moments of exposure and self-expression in order to develop a stronger sense of self. Yet, couples therapy can be a very powerful form of therapy for alleviating shame and developing a much stronger and more integrated sense of self.
"This workshop deals with the challenges of treating clients with personality disorders, clients who, for example, fail to engage in treatment, miss sessions, feel hopeless and stuck, become angry in session, engage in self-harm, use substances, blame others, avoid homework, experience continual crises, and so on. Special attention will be paid to how to help clients get out of the ""personality disorder mode"" and into the ""adaptive mode.""
Through discussion and demonstration roleplays, we'll cover identifying clients' values and aspirations, creating positive experiences and helping clients draw positive conclusions about them, engaging clients in treatment, repairing ruptures in the therapeutic relationship, applying lessons learned from the therapeutic relationship to relationships outside of therapy, learning and using adaptive coping strategies, and developing positive (i.e., more realistic) beliefs about themselves, other people, their worlds, and the future.
Unlike surgeons, psychotherapists usually do not get better with years of practice. Why is that? What skills are most important to develop in clinical training programs, and does it actually happen? Should we be focusing on evidence-based treatment techniques, interpersonal therapeutic skills, cultural competence, deliberate practice, scientific skepticism, fostering clients' strengths and resilience? Three seasoned clinical trainers reflect on the joys, challenges, and outcomes of preparing future psychotherapists.
This talk identifies the seven core dimensions of an effective, sustainable therapy change: 1. a state of positive well being, 2. a positive resonant goal, 3. resources, 4. welcoming obstacles, 5. fluid "ideas of achievement", 6. commitment to practical action, 7. commitment to daily practices. The practical ways to develop and integrate these complementary dimensions will be highlighted.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 500,000 deaths. In the aftermath, Prolong and complicated grief affects about 20% of loved ones. This presentation will discuss how to treat such individuals.
Emotionally focused individual therapy - EFIT - offers a research based on target integrated approach to emotional disorders - depression, anxiety and PTSD. The 5 moves of the EFIT Tango create reliable key change events in every session.
Sometimes regarded as "resistance," ambivalence is a normal human reaction to potential change and a fundamental dynamic in helping relationships whereby well-intended efforts can backfire. In practice there is an important conscious choice between neutrality and direction, leading to different clinical strategies. Dr. Miller will describe different responses to client ambivalence, and their consequences.
This workshop will focus on themes of love and dependence, love and anxiety, love and power in exploring how the interplay of these factors govern whether an intimate relationship thrives or fails. The importance of these themes for both individual and couples therapy.